The Shawbrook group, the medium -sized British lender, adopted a provisional approach to Starling Bank on a merger of 5 billion pounds Sterling while its owners are trying to avoid counting on a Moribonde backdrop for British stock market lists.
Sky News has learned that Shawbrook has contacted Starling in the past two months to assess his interest in an agreement.
City sources said on Wednesday that the approach was “very preliminary” and did not involve any detail on the proposed terms of a transaction.
There are no live discussions between the two parties, although the door was left ajar for Shawbrook to return with an official offer, added the sources.
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This is not the first time that Shawbrook has informally contacted Starling about an agreement, and the initiates have declared that there was little visibility on the question of whether a combination of the two banks would progress more.
Nevertheless, the disclosure that Shawbrook, which is controlled by BC Partners and Pollen Street Capital Investment Companies, has widened its views beyond a public inscription of its actions will supply the expectations of a new series of consolidation among lenders of British midfielders.
He also underlines the difficulty of making public banks to an assessment which is attractive for their existing shareholders, taking into account the notes of existing enameled peers.
Shawbrook and its owners have examined a certain number of merger opportunities in the past, in particular by exploring a merger with Metro Bank when the latter was in serious financial distress in 2023.
A few weeks earlier, Shawbrook sounded the cooperative bank about a merger of 3.5 billion pounds sterling to try to pre -empt a wider auction of the former mutually detained lender.
This has also been postponed, the cooperative bank ending its sale at the Coventry Building Society earlier this year.
News revealed in January That the owners of Shawbrook had hired bankers to prepare for a first public offer in the first half.
This calendar has slipped in recent months, and people close to the company have rejected recent reports that the change of calendar of a stock exchange was somehow linked to the market turmoil triggered by President Donald Trump’s tariff policy.
An obstacle to a merger between Shawbrook and Starling would be the assessment allocated to this last company by its shareholders.
Many investors in Starling think that the company is worth at least 3 billion pounds sterling and would prefer to hold a higher evaluation, because its technological platform, Engine, continues to grow.
However, there would be a logic to a combination of the two banks, both having a significant presence on the commercial loans market.
BC Partners and Pollen Street Capital took Shawbrook Private in 2017 after a visit to the London stock market.
Starling Bank has also been on several occasions for a registration candidate, although any significant merger would inevitably delay these plans.
London fought to reverse the impression that its public procurement has become a disturbed arena for public companies, afflicted by a lack of liquidity and weaker assessments that they could not attract to the United States.
Shawbrook, which employs nearly 1,600 people, has more than 550,000 customers.
Founded in 2011, it was created as a specialized savings and loan institution, offering loans for domiciliary renovation projects and weddings, as well as commercial and real estate loans.
It is part of a harvest of intermediate level lenders, notably Oneavings Bank, Aldermore Bank and Paragon Bank, which have collectively become a significant part of the British banking landscape since the last financial crisis.
Starling Bank, meanwhile, grew up quickly as part of a harvest of digital banks which also includes Monzo.
Shawbrook refused to comment on Wednesday, while Starling Bank was contacted to comment.